The Elementals
by satomika
Summary: AU.Fuuko and her family hides themselves in Mizugakure no Hayashi to protect their little sister from evil elementals who pursues them anywhere they go.Hopefully,their bond grows stronger to protect the ones they love,as more secrets from the past reveals
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Uh… I don't know what to say… I haven't finished Faye Valentine yet, but I assure you that Chapter III is coming up…

Anyway, here's a new multi-chap from me… I couldn't get it out of my head so I'm gonna upload it now… It's an AU fic, somehow, by the way…

THE ELEMENTALS

CHAPTER I

"Mother, where are we?" asked Fuuko in a tired voice.

"We're still in the forest, honey." Kagerou said, offering a smile to her eldest daughter.

"Mother…!" Fuuko protested, but still too weak to argue.

Kagerou chuckled warmly before giving out the needed information. "We're in **Mizugakure no Hayashi."(1)**

"I see. How long have we been here?" came another curious inquiry.

"We've been here our entire lifetime, so why bother asking mom, Fuuko?" piped in Recca, who just came in carrying a handful of supplies through one of the cave entrances to their home.

Fuuko's eyebrow twitched as she shot back hotly, "Why bother lying to me, when I already knew it a long time ago?"

"You mean, you knew?" Recca asked bewildered, his eyes almost bulging out of their sockets.

"Fuuko…" Kagerou said, a warning tone etching her voice.

"Mother?!" Recca inquired, almost horrified, as his gaze landed on their mother.

"She came to know it on her own accord, Recca."

"Since when?" Recca asked, his gaze falling down on his little sister, eyes narrowing to dangerous slits.

Fuuko evaded his gaze to control her temper, and she replied nonchalantly, "Since five years ago."

"Five years ago?!" The loudness of the repeated answer that needs confirmation seemed to double. Fuuko landed her gaze on the other person who echoed back her answer.

"Yes. Why?" Fuuko asked with no interest.

"But I thought you just knew it 2-3 years ago!" Domon said, baffled by the little misunderstanding between the members of his family.

"You knew?!" Recca and Fuuko looked at their eldest brother incredulously.

Domon scratched his nape, now that the interest was on him. He answered sheepishly, "Yeah. I was the one who always carries Fuuko every time we transport through the Shadows. I can hear her breath hitching, feel the rapid breath of her heart and see her almost-lidded eyes move every time we pass through the tunnel. I wasn't aware of it when we were younger but I came to know 2-3 years ago that she already knows that we move once in awhile. I asked mom what to do of it, but she said that it was alright because somehow, the truth would reveal itself in moment's time. Mom also asked me to not tell it to you because you would confront it early, and it would be best that the secret reveals itself when we are much older, and hopefully more matured. Mom knows that if you knew it bro, you'd probably go to the extent of putting herbs that would make our sisters sleep 'til 2-3 days."

"You knew yet you still kept it from me." Recca muttered under his breath, his voice sounding hurt, yet still loud enough to be heard by every occupant in the room.

"Now you know the feeling of being left out." Fuuko said in an angry and hurt tone.

Before Recca could comment further, Kagerou stopped the squabbling of her children. "Since everyone, minus one, already knows about it, there's no need to discuss the issue further."

"Fine." Recca bit out. "As long as Ganko won't know about this."

"What will I not know about?" a little girl's cute sleepy voice came.

"Hi, princess." Domon said kindly.

"Hello, big brother." The girl answered back. "So, what will I not know about? Is it a surprise?" She asked animatedly. "'Coz if it is, then I'm afraid your plan already backfired." (Wow. Big words from a little girl.)

Bothe Recca's and Fuuko's face faultered nd paled. They do not want their sister to know the whazzits and whazzats that have been going around.

'Did she already know?'

"Awww… I guess the plan really did backfire." Domon said, his voice sounding sad, but there's still another emotion that laced his words… excitement? It sounds sugary sweet… too good to be true.

Nevertheless, as soon as his words came out of his mouth, Recca and Fuuko had their eyes bulging, jaw dropping, cold sweat trickling, and hands shaking. 'Is he gonna spill the beans?' But before the two could even voice out their concerns, they saw their eldest brother smiling…rather 'fatherly', perhaps 'brotherly' is more appropriate. Sweet as he could be, he offered their little sister a… plushie?

"Here's a present for you, princess." Domon said, handing out a doll… more specifically, a weird-looking fox strewn out of soft materials.

"Wow! It's cute! And it's soft too! Thank you, big brother!" Ganko squealed, taking the said toy from her brother's offering hand.

She snuggled the toy to her chest, when suddenly, it spoke in a mocking manner. Ganko squealed upon hearing it. "Hey girly! You're killing me! Can't breath!"

Ganko held the toy in an arm's length, inspecting it with her scrutinizing gaze, before beaming a jolly face and squealing in delight. Once again, her new toy is speaking…human language. It looked like it could even fly when he would rotate his tail. And there's also this wonderful feeling that fluttered in her stomach that says this new toy is much more durable than her previous dolls that easily breaks and snaps when she would play with them.

In a spur of moment, she almost forgot to apologize. "Ah, ah! Sorry, sorry, Mr. Fox." She openly admitted sheepishly, before she held the talking fox in her arms once again, as if cradling the toy like a newborn baby.

"Mmmmmmmm… Call me Kondo, girly."

Ganko giggled childishly (Well duh, technically, she's still a child.) and said curtly, "I'm Ganko. Can we be friends, Kondo?"

"I'll think about it."

Ganko pouted in tears brimmed at the edge of her eyes.

"Ok! Ok! I'll be your friend. Just don't cry. Sheez."

Instantly, Ganko's face lit up and her eyes held a remarkable sparkle that children always have. "Can we play then?"

Kondo regarded the girl for a moment, and in a moment's hesitation, he groaned and finally said "Yes."

Ganko squealed again in joy and hugged the toy in her chest, muffling his cries of protests and colorful words.

Meanwhile, Recca and Fuuko breathed a sigh of relief. Seriously, hiding something from someone takes a lot out of you, pretending to be cool, calm, collected, and all that.

Anyway, Domon's cover was really good. 'Where'd he got that weird-looking toy anyway? Ah well… it doesn't matter… as long as he solved the problem.' Recca and Fuuko thought.

Both teens watched the exchange of conversation between their sister and her new toy. Since it is problem solved, they decided to part ways and do their own thing. Fuuko decided to go through the cave entrance her older brothers just entered awhile ago, when a firm grip on her arm held her back.

To be Continued…

A/N: Not much happened but the next chapter will say it all… Hope to hear from you!

**Mizugakure no Hayashi: **supposedly means hidden forest of the Kingdom of Mizu.


	2. Chapter 2

Happy New Year Everyone!

Hi Guys! We're sorry if we took awhile…but we hope that you would accept our Triple Treat for compensation this New Year – the tenth chapter of "Faye Valentine", the second chapter of "Are You…?", as well as the second chapter of "The Elementals"… We hope you'd enjoy!

_Thoughts_

Satomika: I think I just broke my promise when I said that the next chapter will say it all… I'm not sure when the _truth_ will be known to everyone…I just hope you guys will continue supporting this fic, though.

THE ELEMENTALS

CHAPTER II

Fuuko scowled at Recca, but he, in turn grinned at her expression. "You going out, sis?" He asked.

Fuuko jerked back her arm away from his grasp, and answered back in a condescending manner. "Yeah. What's it to you, bro?"

Recca frowned. "That's not the proper way to respond to your elders, Fuuko. I'm asking you in a civilized manner, so please treat this conversation with respect. Now I'm gong to ask you again. Are you going out, sis?"

Fuuko gritted her teeth. If she would further remark rudely, she'd put her mother to shame. Why of course her mother educated her with good manners and proper conduct. So all Fuuko can do is sigh heavily and answer properly. "Yeah."

"You going to town?"

Fuuko looked at him skeptically before she shook her head sideways.

"Alright. Mind if I join you?"

"I don't. But maybe you will, seeing me naked." Fuuko smirked.

"Ha! You do that after we train." Recca responded her smirk with his own one.

Fuuko frowned. "You want answers, don't you?"

Recca looked at her squarely in the eye and said, "Of course. I know you do too, am I right?"

Fuuko just stared at him neither agreeing, nor disagreeing. Receiving a blank stare from her, Recca smiled playfully while saying, "Race me to the lake."

Unable to resist a challenge, even if she knows she is to win, Fuuko ran as fast as she can, beating her brother in his own little game.

"You know, I can always win in this game. Why do you even bother testing my ability?" Fuuko said as soon as the distance between them was at least a yard away.

"Recca smirked. "Just because you're fast and nimble sis, doesn't mean you can already beat me when we spar, with or without tricks." Recca said as he threw multiple smoke bombs towards his sister, and later sprang on her, aiming a right jab on Fuuko's stomach.

But before the jab hit her, Fuuko sprang up on her feet and did a somersault mid-air, kicked her brother at the back of his head, using the heel of her foot. Later, she hit the pressure points at the back of her brother using the **64 palms, 8 trigrams technique**. She back-flipped behind him, landing gracefully on her feet three yards away from him, then said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. "You must have forgotten that I can sense the shift in the air pressure around me when you're gonna combat me close. You're underestimating me, brother."

"Why should I? You're my sister, and I know you. Half of your skills were based on mine, and your other techniques came from our eldest. I've battled him enough to recognize the flaws, and here you are trying to perfect what he can't." Recca said as he stood up to face her.

"True, brother dear. It just proves that I'm progressing. Just as the common town folks say, 'You won't succeed if you won't look back to where you grew and nurtured.' They're just basics, but everything falls to basics once you've analyzed and dissected complicated moves and tricks."

"Ah. You've truly progressed, sis. You've learned well from your mentors. But I should say, you depend too much on your special ability. Since you're at it, how about we take this spar a step higher?" Recca announced while wiping off a trickle of blood on one of the corners of his mouth.

Recca snapped his fingers and a warm feeling surrounded the two of them.

Fuuko's eyes widen. "Are you insane? With strong wind, the fire might spread out towards the other parts of the forest!"

Recca smirked. "Why? Afraid because you can't use your special ability?"

Fuuko gritted her teeth. "Of course not! I can take you with or without my special ability. I'm just concerned with the Neanderthal creatures here in the forest."

"Oh, pansy, my sister." Recca chuckled.

"What?! There's no doubt I'm a girl. Just because I care for such creatures, doesn't mean I am pansy, you coward, heartless fool!"

A sad smile graced Recca's lips. "You don't know the truth." He said, barely above a whisper.

"Truth?!" Fuuko's voice raised a notch higher than before. "How would I know the truth if you won't tell me? You keep everything from me and Ganko. And now you get angry when I learn the _truth_ by myself. Why are you keeping things from us anyway? Why are you hiding the truth? Why… why is it that we keep on running and hiding? We don't live with the townspeople. We don't socialize much with them. We always live in the forest, no, in man-made caves. We're like away from civilization. Why can't we lead normal lives?" Fuuko blurted out, unable to suppress the questions that kept on running through her head for five years, unable to control the words that flew out of her lips. Tears now freely dribbled down the sides of her cheeks as she last voiced out the most hurtful question "Why are we being punished like this?"

As soon as Recca heard her last question, he cringed. He deviated the topic by saying, "you know, this fire I made is not the common fire we use to burn things. Fire is fire, but this is the fire I've created. Even if the strongest wind blows, it won't spread unless I order it too; it won't die even if the Niagara Falls continue to fall on it. This fire I've created is created with magic. It will most probably fan out when I'm in a weak condition. But anyway, since we're by the lake, and the sun is out, no clouds littering the sky, it's the perfect time to try it out at large. We can train, and we can enhance our moves, perfect our flaws. No one would suspect a thing when they se it from a distance. All they'll think of is why the sun is so strong now, because this fire is also a reflection of the sun's rays. However, this fire is as real as you and me. Fight me. Then we'll see if you're fit to the task you're given."

Fuuko angrily wiped the tears that stained her cheeks. _Why did I even bother asking? He's the least person who'd tell me the truth, but sadly, the only one who can tell me the truth. _Fuuko readied her stance, assuming the original position for the **Gentle Fist Formation**.

"That is the basic stance you used on me awhile ago, is it not? If I didn't know better, you're planning on permanently disabling me. Good thing, I've already activated seventy percent of my fire barrier after your heel made contact to the back of my skull. Unfortunately for you, your wind barrier is only activated thirty percent of my seventy percent, which led to first degree burns on your palms. Now you're using that stance against me again. You know those moves won't work on me once I've seen it."

Recca said as he stood his own **Eight Trigrams Empty Palms** stance. "Tell me sister, you've been wanting to know the truth, but what will you do once you know the truth? As far as I know, fighting out destiny will ruin lives, probably not ours, but others'. One more thing, you, knowing the truth won't help to bring back those people we hold dear. It won't bring back lives, won't bring back happiness, won't bring back peace. You're lucky not to know the truth, for if you have, it might probably break your mental capacity," finished Recca with a sardonic laugh.

Fuuko narrowed her eyes at the last comment. "Once again, you're underestimating me brother. You don't know me that much. You don't know I've changed over the years since finding about part of the truth you've been hiding from me. I'm fit being the warrior that you are, as well as our elder brother Domon. As for the _truth_, mother has warned me. She said that the truth might probably break me, but it made me curious all the more. Why? I've been figuring out the truth ever since I've learned you've been hiding something from me and Ganko. I've been searching for clues, trying to dig more of the mystery. I was so naïve back then that I thought going through the Shadows was something normal… something cool. But through my half-lidded eyes, every time we're in some place different, you've been creating the same cave we've been living though – same number of rooms, same decorations, that every time I wake up in the morning, I thought that I was only dreaming… the same dream that occurs once every two or three months.

"But I saw something that proved me wrong. While big brother Domon can control the earth to make our home, and also alter the landscapes that fits my last memory of the others, he destroys the trees. He doesn't know, of course, that after every time I train, I take a nap on top of one of the highest branches of my favorite tree. So every time we move, I have o pick out my favorite tree because my last favorite tree for another place is not there anymore. But that's not the point. I mean, aside from that, the altitude in the air is different from the last one. Also, when I try to visit town, I see unfamiliar things and unfamiliar people. The way they speak, the way they dress – everything is unfamiliar! It's like everything that had just happened is all a dream – nothing but a passing memory!" She shouted out all her insecurities with the hoarse voice she's been using ever since that morning. But this time, she didn't cry. And only anger and distrust build up inside her.

"Fuuko… I'm… we're sorry. We didn't mean to keep the truth from you. Please understand, we're just trying to protect you." Recca said weakly.

"Protect me? Protect me from what?" Fuuko said with disbelief. "I don't need protection, brother. I'm a warrior just like you. I'm strong just like you. So stop making up lies. I've had enough." Fuuko said, dropping her stance and walked away, not bothering to find out the answers she's been looking for. _I'll just find the truth by myself, just like the way I found out that I'm not your real sister, and going through the Shadows is a teleportation spell. _She activated her wind barrier on full blast and crossed the fire created by her dear brother.

To be Continued…

A/N: Hopefully, the next chapter will say it all… Glad to hear from you!

**64 palms, 8 trigrams technique**: technique performed by Byakugan users from the anime Naruto. In short, we don't own it. But most probably, we'll be using their techniques.

**Gentle Fist Formation:** we don't own it… it belongs to anime Naruto.

**Eight Trigrams Empty Palms**: technique used by Neji Hyuuga from anime Naruto.

---I should say, I'm quite fond of saying Fuuko this, Fuuko that and Recca this, and Recca that. It's like every start of the sentence, or paragraph, either of the names comes up. Forgive me…

---P.S.: Why don't you guys look up those techniques yourselves? They're pretty much short anyway, but I'm too lazy to tell you guys what these techniques do and what not. Thanks for your consideration! ^-^


	3. Goodbye

_**January 12, 2012**_

_**Hello!**_

_**I was told that an event will cause irreparable damage to myself... and I believe it so. Because I also have an inkling about what's going to happen.**_

_**With that said, I'd be taking months off for myself and my family. But just as I said, I will make sure I'd finish my fics even it takes me a long period of time... (even if i have to scratch my eyeballs out and until my fingers bleed). So here I am, asking you to lend me your strength, prayers and support. Thank you so much!**_

_**See you guys soon!**_

_**-satomika-**_


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